Sustainable diet

A sustainable diet is defined as one that promotes food sustainability and ecological well-being.

Sustainable diets are eating patterns that look at the impact that food consumption has on planetary resources and health of humans and promote the needs of the environment, society, and the economy. This growing body of research is recognised by a variety of international bodies such as the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO).

A growing population and an increase in income is shifting global demands to what is known as the global diet. It demands a diet high in animal protein, oils, salts and processed foods.

Additional research and methods that will help address issues such as agriculture production methods, food waste, environmental problems like declination of biodiversity and global warming, are necessary for promoting sustainable diets. As well as to determine whether or not there should be concern on plant vs. animal diets and their impact on health.

In 2010, the FAO and Bioversity International defined a sustainable diet as:

those diets with low environmental impacts which contribute to food and nutrition security and to healthy life for present and future generations. Sustainable diets are protective and respectful of biodiversity and ecosystems, culturally acceptable, accessible, economically fair and affordable; nutritionally adequate, safe and healthy; while optimizing natural and human resources.

Some so-called "sustainable" diets mostly concentrate on issues to do with Low Carbon Diets which are structured to reduce the impact of global warming (e.g., Bon Appétit Management Company's, Eat Low Carbon Diet).

Others also focus on broader environmental factors, as well as social and economic challenges (e.g., WWF's LiveWell for LIFE, and the Barilla Group's "Centre for Food Nutrition" model).

Other regionalized diets include the Mediterranean diet which was used as a basis in research published in 2014 to outline an approach to develop metrics and guidelines to measure the sustainability of diets in a way that useful to inform stakeholders, measure change and aid decision-making processes at regional and national scales.

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